THE CURRENT STATUS OF PHYSICAL PROTECTION SYSTEM UPGRADES IN THREE RESEARCH REACTORS IN INDONESIA

Physical protection upgrades of Indonesia’s research reactors at Serpong, Bandung, and Yogyakarta were completed in the fall of 2006 and commissioned on November 17th. The commissioning culminated a process that began in 2001 with an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) mission. After the IPPAS team recommended physical protection improvements for all three research reactor sites, the Department of Energy’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) discussed security assistance with Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency, BATAN. In October 2003, physical protection experts from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) visited the sites to assess potential physical protection upgrades. In February 2004, a technical representative from each of the three sites visited SNL for physical protection concepts training, intrusion detection and delay system discussions, and technical design assistance. In April 2006, GTRI/SNL technical experts revisited Indonesia to observe the progress of the installation. The team suggested strengthening the central alarm stations and adding additional detection systems in the target areas. After the installation was complete and the operators were trained, a performance evaluation was conducted in November 2006. These upgrades not only reduced the threat of theft at the three research reactors, but also provided local physical protection expertise to use during the concept, design, and operation of Indonesia’s future power reactors. This paper briefly describes the status of physical protection of nuclear material and its implementation at the three research reactors in Indonesia.